Nitish Kumar kickstarts anti-liquor campaign in Jharkhand

Dhanbad: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched the anti-liquor campaign in Jharkhand here and came down heavily on the state government for allegedly setting up liquor shops in Jharkhand-Bihar border.

Kumar, who was addressing an anti-liquor meeting organized by Nari Shangarsh Morcha, Dhanbad at Town Hall alleged that since liquor has been banned in Bihar, Jharkhand government has been setting up liquor shops in neighboring districts of Bihar.

"...And this was in violation of Excise Act 2000 which bans sale of wine within three km radius of a border," Kumar said, adding the Jharkhand government has enhanced the minimum quota of liquor shops by 40-50 per cent in adjacent districts to Bihar ever since the ban was imposed.

Asserting the "Anti-liquor campaign is voice of 50 per cent population of (women) and no one can crush it now," Kumar said the campaign, which began in Bihar, has taken momentum and would now spread to other parts of the country.

Kumar said the campaign would continue and whoever would call him from anywhere he would squeeze some time and go there to narrate success story of Bihar.

Taking a dig at Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das over his comment that the state would adopt the Gujarat model not Bihar model, Nitish said that he (Raghubar Das) must follow Gujarat model which had banned liquor sale following creation of state.

"Ban on liquor is Gandhiji model and that is why he (Nitish ) now adopts it on the centenary year of Gandhiji's Champaran Satyagraha," he said.

Nitish Kumar also refuted the claim of some Jharkhand ministers that tribals are against ban of liquor.

"Tribal people too are in favour of complete on liquor as several families have been ruined from liquor. So now they are coming out against it in public," he said.

Kumar, who came here from Bokaro amid tight security, faced a slogan-shouting crowd which ranted 'Nitish kumar Murdabad', mostly women, when he did not initially meet them as announced earlier.